Des Moines Man Sentenced to 25 Years in Federal Prison for Sexually Exploiting 12-year-old Minnesota Child

DES MOINES, Iowa - A Des Moines man was sentenced to 25 years in federal prison for enticing a minor to engage criminal sexual activity.

According to public court documents and information presented at sentencing, Prya Reh, 24, met a 12-year-old Minnesota child online in the fall of 2022. Reh knew the child was 12. In November 2022, Reh drove from Des Moines to Minnesota where he picked the child up from middle school, drove to a local motel, and sexually abused the child. About a week later, Reh drove back to Minnesota, brought the child to Des Moines, where he secreted and sexually assaulted the child in a basement bedroom. In addition to the in-person sexual abuse of the child, Reh also created an image of child sexual abuse material depicting the child and repeatedly asked the child to text him sexually explicit pictures. Reh also possessed a firearm as a felon. When police searched Reh's residence, police located a loaded pistol in Reh's bedroom.

After completing his term of imprisonment, Reh will be required to serve five years of supervised release. There is no parole in the federal system. Reh was also ordered to pay a special assessment of $5,000.

United States Attorney Richard D. Westphal of the Southern District of Iowa made the announcement. The case was investigated by the Des Moines Police Department, Austin (Minnesota) Police Department, FBI Child Exploitation Task Force, and Iowa DCI's Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. The case was prosecuted by the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Iowa.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys' Offices and the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit https://www.justice.gov/psc. For information about internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the resources tab.